Billionaire Elon Musk on Friday is set to receive a briefing from the Defense Department on the country’s top-secret plans for how it would fight a potential war with China — should one ever happen — according to multiple news reports.
The news was first reported by The New York Times.
President Donald Trump dismissed the report as “completely untrue,” blasting the Times for covering what he described as falsehoods.
“How ridiculous?” Trump said in a post on his Truth Social platform. “China will not even be mentioned or discussed. How disgraceful it is that the discredited media can make up such lies.”
Musk echoed Trump’s words, going a step further by threatening to go after the Times’ unnamed sources.
“I look forward to the prosecutions of those at the Pentagon who are leaking maliciously false information to NYT,” Musk wrote on X, formerly Twitter. “They will be found.”
The report, which cited two U.S. officials, raised eyebrows especially because Musk has business interests in China — a major U.S. adversary — given the country plays a major role in Tesla manufacturing. His aerospace company SpaceX also has U.S. government contracts, including with the Defense Department.
While Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth confirmed Musk will be visiting the Pentagon Friday, he said the billionaire would simply sit in on an “informal meeting about innovation, efficiencies & smarter production.”
Despite the Trump administration’s claims, the plans to brief Musk on the top-secret preparations have now been independently confirmed by several news outlets. It’s unclear, however, if the briefing will still go ahead following the reports.
The Wall Street Journal noted that Musk had requested to be read in on the sensitive plans.
The Times said the presentation the billionaire would sit in on involves up to 30 slides detailing how the U.S. would fight China if a conflict broke out.
One reason Musk, a top ally of the president, could have interest in receiving such a briefing, the Times said, is to figure out what parts of the Pentagon’s budget he would be “safe” to slash as part of the so-called Department of Government Efficiency’s plans to overhaul and downsize the federal government.
Go Ad-Free — And Protect The Free Press
The next four years will change America forever. But HuffPost won’t back down when it comes to providing free and impartial journalism.
For the first time, we’re offering an ad-free experience to qualifying contributors who support our fearless newsroom. We hope you’ll join us.
You’ve supported HuffPost before, and we’ll be honest — we could use your help again. We won’t back down from our mission of providing free, fair news during this critical moment. But we can’t do it without you.
For the first time, we’re offering an ad-free experience to qualifying contributors who support our fearless journalism. We hope you’ll join us.
You’ve supported HuffPost before, and we’ll be honest — we could use your help again. We won’t back down from our mission of providing free, fair news during this critical moment. But we can’t do it without you.
For the first time, we’re offering an ad-free experience to qualifying contributors who support our fearless journalism. We hope you’ll join us.
Already contributed? Log in to hide these messages.
Musk is reportedly planning to cut up to 60,000 civilians from the Defense Department, a senior defense official said earlier this week, according to The Associated Press.
Meanwhile, Trump and Hegseth are due to deliver remarks from the Oval Office on Friday morning, the White House said, teasing an undisclosed statement.